Whether baking a cake, whipping up breakfast or serving dinner, letting your children be an active part of the process is a great way to enjoy more family time while teaching them healthy habits. Challenger CammieGibson bakes her and her daughter’s first homemade cake and have a memorable time doing it!

My husband and I try to have dinner at the table with our 3 beautiful daughters often. A lot of times that is not possible with 3 girls needing to be at practice, or a school event or youth group or the numerous sleep overs.

A few weeks ago my daughter Staci, 9, who is a very creative girl asked if we could make a cake. I proceeded to say sure we’ll go to the store and buy a mix…she says, “NO mommy I want to make a real cake”…”you know, from a cookbook, one that we measure out the ingredients.” I was thinking to myself…OK I am 42 and have never made a cake from scratch…so we dug out my grandma’s old Better Homes and Garden Cookbook…now mind you, my grandma has passed almost 25 years or so…this was an olk cookbook. We found a simple cake recipe. There was no pudding in the mix either!

I found it great joy to bake with my daughter who was so eager to learn. We carefully measured out the flour…teaching her how to swift and level off the flour, carefully breaking the eggs, the right amount of sugar and the rest of the ingredients. Using the beater, greasing the pans, setting the oven temperature…and waiting for the timer to go off. Testing to see if the cake was done, using hot pads, allowing the cake to cool completely and making homemade pink frosting…yes it has to be “pink” frosting for a 9 year old girl who just made her first cake from a cookbook!

You can teach your kids a lot of things following a recipe but most of all you teach love and appreciation for doing something together.

My computer was recently formatted and not sure where they put my pictures of Staci’s cake but here is a link to my facebook page with the pictures.

Oh of course my daughter has to pose and put flour on her face for the camera! She’s such a joy!

Sincerely,

Camille Gibson

Ps. I really need the body bugg. I am in the process of changing my life by being an example of health for my girls this is a tool I could use.